Just thought to start a topic giving some explaination for why things are as they are when it comes to getting wheelchair bound people around and through .

Will start with a few one liners, where the solution is the most obvious.

Busses, trains, planes and the like ... first on, last off. It's not about preferential treatment, it's about managing the bulk of the wheelchair and the transfer to seating while there a no people/luggage/handbags cluttering the aisles.

Fire escapes in office buildings ... wait in the stairwell until help (firefighters) arrives. If you are blocking access for others to escape, re-enter your floor and wait for the rush to subside. It's apparently a very lonely place sitting in the stairwell after everyone else has gone.

I never really thought much about handicapped parking until I got my own handicapped tag. Some handicapped parking spaces are totally bizarre (and totally in violation of ADA). And we need more of them!

You've specified wheelchair access compared to handicap access. Have to admit I've never thought of them separately. Also admit to mixed feelings about making everything possible accessible. In many instances the cost of modifications isn't small and sometimes makes little sense. An example is a State Park that we used to go to in Pennsylvania, all older buildings and of course the restrooms had to be modified to be ADA compliant. The only way to do this was to combine the 2 existing stalls into 1 to get the room needed, cutting capacity by 50% but allowing access to the 1% of the population in chairs. An obscure situation but I'm sure it was repeated many times. Practicality and equal opportunity don't always align perfectly.

Have you been witnessing things that seem off regarding wheelchair access?

We moved state when I was 6 so that my sister could attend school in the early '70s. Victoria had a zero assimilation, put them in institutions policy, South Australia had an inclusive policy, whereby if my parents enrolled her, they would do the bare minimum over the long holiday break, then keep steps ahead of her classes etc. Simple lumber, and welded steel ramps added to existing buildings.

I agree that there's taking things too far, such as parks etc. They are banning 4WD traffic and restricting it to walking these days, so scope for people like my sister to get in deep aren't there...she arranges her holidays to take in board walks, and skyships etc.

Work, the offices are accessable, but clearly there's no need to make wheelchair access to operating areas, as the capability and duty of care aren't appropriate.

No, not anything I've observed lately, just trying to correct some misconceptions from the YMCA thread without burning the whole thread down, in that managing access makes access easier for all of us, not granting one group "special" privilige to the detriment of anyone else.

Funny one was when she was in the Paralympics, the girls all got a trip to a farm that had just won an award for disabled access...ramps everywhere, all with a 6-7" kerb to get over.

I didn't look at the YMCA thread so didn't know about your sister. Your point that the reason for some things and procedures is to get a wheelchair out of the way of the rest of the public quickly and minimize inconvenience isn't communicated much, or at all. Example, I've always assumed that handicapped parking spots are close to the entrance to make it easier on the handicapped, not to minimize their disruption to the flow of vehicle and foot traffic. Thanks for that insight.

Fire escapes in office buildings ... wait in the stairwell until help (firefighters) arrives. If you are blocking access for others to escape, re-enter your floor and wait for the rush to subside. It's apparently a very lonely place sitting in the stairwell after everyone else has gone.

The last building that I had, that required ADA compliant fire escapes, required the ADA escapes to be good for thirty minutes.

I wound up making it extra large, and used it as an alternate entrance to the building - close the special doors it's the refuge, more than wide enough to get two chairs up and out side by side. Even with sprinklers, I had a lotta doubt about anything lasting thirty minutes in a real fire; I wanted everyone out within a couple of minutes.

There's a lighthouse here at the end of a breakwater that's made from huge granite chunks. There's no way of making said breakwater flat and even enough to roll on-- in fact, modifying it probably breaks some EPA laws. So the lighthouse is only open once a year, some loophole by which they don't have to be ADA compliant.

When I was on crutches, shopping was a hassle. I couldn't push a cart and hold crutches simultaneously so I took the "mart cart". But its designer assumed I was completely helpless and didn't have a crutch (cane?) holder! I wound up crossing my crutches over its dinky little basket and had this long spear-thing ready to snag the unwary.

Fire escapes in office buildings ... wait in the stairwell until help (firefighters) arrives. If you are blocking access for others to escape, re-enter your floor and wait for the rush to subside. It's apparently a very lonely place sitting in the stairwell after everyone else has gone.

I'm a building fire warden, they don't wait alone as there should be a fire warden / floor warden with them at all times.

The building warden (senior) is informed of who they are and where they are, they pass this info to the fire brigade as soon as they arrive on site. While a floor warden waits with the person in the wheel chair (or other mobility disability) in the safest place which is the fire proof stairwell.

I've done this a number of times as a floor warden. Like always it was a false alarm and nothing happened. But rest assured, If I felt in danger and I had to get out now, then I would run and I would have that person on my shoulder with me. Once we had a very large person, so I asked another warden to stay with us, together we would have gotten that person out, if push came to shove.